In a column posted on Dr. Dobb's, editor-in-chief Andrew Binstock wrote about the security problem resulting from the growing popularity of cloud storage providers. The primary advantage of relying on such providers, says Binstock, is that their combined expertise on the security and reliability front is in all likelihood better than that of most SMBs and even some larger IT shops. 

There are downsides to cloud-based storage however. For one, Binstock observed that no cloud storage provider will promise that they will not access your data under any circumstances. In addition, it is also common to find explicit clauses that allow law enforcement agencies access to your data.

Believing that this is acceptable because there is nothing incriminating in one's data storage, is, in his words, "intensely naive." The obvious problem, notes Binstock, is that any government agency examining your data is under no contractual obligation to you to keep them safe, or even delete copies that were created.

One solution would be to maintain sensitive data within one's data center instead of in the cloud. Alternatively, organizations can ensure that they first encrypt their data using well-tested and robust encryption tools. Relying on a cloud vendor is not recommended, given that some, like Dropbox, come with back doors designed to let company decrypt your data as necessary.

For more:
- check out this article at Dr. Dobb's

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